The Usable Past with Marie Nahikian

A long time resident on Brooklyn's Underhill Avenue shares story of Cheryl's Global Soul: a small-minority-woman-LGBTQ owned business is the heart of a block "making it" despite no start-up capital, gentrification and a pandemic.

Show Notes

Our windows framed Underhill Avenue. We saw everything. Cars lost tires & hubcaps, shots fired, Labor Day eating roti, goat & jerk, Primrose's rum punch, our son dancing in W. Indian Children's parade. Daily commerce centered on a bodega, opened by Mohammed, an immigrant from Yemen; we fondly named it “The Yuck Store.” The other main traders moved product on the sidewalks from Washington Avenue to Underhill.  In 2006, we welcomed “Cheryl’s Global Soul” - a sit-down restaurant. In 2020, it changed again. 

What is The Usable Past with Marie Nahikian?

Veteran community organizer Marie Nahikian hosts The Usable Past, where activists share their stories of past and present organizing for better housing, food, banks, jobs, environmental and social justice. A Brooklyn resident, Marie most recently worked with U.S. Housing & Urban Development under President Obama and has participated in building 5,000 affordable homes in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, and New York. Marie has been a neighborhood, civil rights, housing and labor organizer, a community journalist, and in 1977 was a founder of WPFW-FM Pacifica radio in Washington, DC.